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The ridership numbers for 2019 have just been released for NICE. It went slightly up from 77,333 weekday riders in 2018 to 79,530 riders last year. However, the average operating expense per passenger trip on a bus (not Able-ride) also went slightly up from $4.83 to $4.94 due to increased expenses (Purchased Transportation expense went up ~6 million USD).

https://cms7.fta.dot.gov/sites/fta.dot.gov/files/transit_agency_profile_doc/2019/20206.pdf

On 7/17/2020 at 8:06 PM, Kris Brain said:

Has any other Orion VII NG CNGs or 3G CNGs been repainted? Those 2011's in particular look like they are ready to retire already.... 

Not recently, no. Also, if this Summer goes well for the 1700s, I think there is still some life in them so I wouldn't necessarily talk retirement yet.

On 1/27/2020 at 6:29 AM, Lawrence St said:

I was reading the NICE bus wiki and I saw that several routes were discontinued between 2016-2017. Were these low ridership routes? Were they merged into other routes? 

Some of that is summarized here: 

 

Anyone want to advertise on NICE Bus? - http://www.nicebusads.com/

On 1/9/2020 at 10:29 PM, Tom Meadow said:

Funny I live in Long Beach and there was no crazies running around causing mayhem.

What is your opinion on the current service level that NICE provides for the N15 and N33?

NICE is running minibuses intermittently on the n57 and the n80. I've seen them frequently switch off between these and 40 ft buses including on the same day in the same morning/afternoon.

I monitored the n57 one afternoon. The first run at ~2:40pm was done by a 40 ft then that driver switched to the n25. The next run never showed up and never got filled, then this thing pulled in from south of Great Neck and started doing the n57 at ~3:50pm:

The destination sign, before it was switched to the n57, was for the Mercy Medical Shuttle. If it was previously doing that route and was supposed to cover the missing run, then the interlining for these is poorly planned. Also, I've seen occurrences where there has been a decent amount of people on an n57 run, possibly more than this vehicle would fit comfortably.

 

How much money do you think NICE is actually saving by doing this? 

Are n20/21 buses no longer allowed to make the roundabout turns in Great Neck on South Station Plaza or Welwyn Rd? If yes, when did this become a rule?

Every bus continues over the tracks and makes a right turn onto North Station Plaza which is a fairly tight turn if there are cars heading west on that street waiting at the stoplight. Buses then make a right onto Barstow Road to come around to the bus stop. With all of the buses parked on North Station Plaza as well as the usual traffic in both directions, this seems like an added time that isn't needed if drivers can make the roundabout turn without issue.

6 hours ago, N6 Limited said:

Just noticed a N43 PDF has a N1 map and weekday timetable.

http://www.nicebus.com/NICE/media/NiceBusPDFSchedules/NICE-n43_MapSchedule.pdf

What is funny is that they do that at least once every time that they make schedule changes.

NICE got sued for a Workers' Comp dispute: 

Quote

A New York appellate court ruled that an injured bus driver did not forfeit his entitlement to benefits by making deliberate misrepresentations about his condition even though video surveillance indicated he was capable of more activity than his doctor had expected him to be able to perform.

https://law.justia.com/cases/new-york/appellate-division-third-department/2019/528808.html

What does the door announcement in this video say?

Looks like it's taken on the N70 at Farmingdale State College:

Also, the uploader of this video has some other funny videos from NICE rides posted on YouTube.

33 minutes ago, NY1635 said:

The n19 gets decent ridership among people going thru Sunrise Mall to get to Babylon. Same goes for n72. SCT don't want to do the transfer at Farmingdale State College and the n72 ends at the Overpass on 110

The n73 and n50 are used by people travelling North to Hickville and don't want to transfer to the n49.

The n36 is used by Freeport and Baldwin residents living near the n35

The Mercy Medical Shuttle can move to Baldwin Silver Lake since it's used by people tired of waiting for the 16 at RVC or along S.Franklin

The n70/72's ridership mainly comes from HTC, NUMC, East Meadow Shopping Center, Newbridge Road, and 110. 

Again, I ask. Can you please answer the below questions:

 

2) Do you think the removal of the lower-performing routes has resulted in improvements within other parts of the system?
2a) Have you seen any improvement in reliability of service (on-time performance, buses running smoothly without breakdowns, etc) with the reductions that have been made? ie. Do the reductions make up for anything?

3) If NICE had to make more service reductions, where would you expect them to make that?
3a) Separately, if reductions had to be made, where would you choose to reduce service costs?

15 hours ago, Mtatransit said:

N62- Never took it personally, but based on observation, not much people rode it, both ARHC and S Freeport Loop

Which route eliminations did you take personally?

 

11 hours ago, bwwnyc123 said:

N19 and either N70/N71/N72: need to serve Babylon again. 

You don't think SCT as it stands now covers that gap?

 

11 hours ago, NY1635 said:

n1: needs to run full time to Jamaica and Five Towns Shopping Center. It's mainly used by people living in Far Rockaway to get to Green Acres and Valley Stream/Elmont bound people to reach the mall. 

n6: Midday Service reduced to 15 minutes since it's not that bus during the midday and needs help in the evening

n22: 24hr service between Hicksville and Jamaica, skipping Roosvelt Field Mall during overnight hours. Incready Weekday MiddayOff Peak Service from 30 to 20.

n54/55: moved to Amityville LIRR for the benefit of N.Amityville residents

n72: restore Babylon Service to all day with hourly overnight service to 110. Make it 24  hrs.

n20: Recombined: Manohraven or Roslyn Industrial Park-Flushing as short turns, Hicksville all times

n21: Flushing Service Restored to help the n20 on Northern Blvd

n3: Make it a Green Acres-Hempstead route via Franklin Ave and Hempstead Turnpike.

n51: Restored as a shuttle with a stop at MSK

n50: Restored to serve Newbridge Road South of NY-24

n45: Restored, use Bablyon Turnpike to reach Bellmore instead of Park Ave

Mercy Medical Shuttle: Extended to Baldwin Silver Lake

n78: Roosevelt Field-PLainview via Westbury Ave/JohnStreet and Old Country Road

These are my suggestions.

With all of these suggestions, I'm curious to know your answers to the below questions from the original post:

 

2) Do you think the removal of the lower-performing routes has resulted in improvements within other parts of the system?
2a) Have you seen any improvement in reliability of service (on-time performance, buses running smoothly without breakdowns, etc) with the reductions that have been made? ie. Do the reductions make up for anything?

3) If NICE had to make more service reductions, where would you expect them to make that?
3a) Separately, if reductions had to be made, where would you choose to reduce service costs?

As we come up on 8 years of Veolia running Nassau's bus system, I thought we could take a look back at what has changed over this time and compare it to MTA Long Island Bus.

This is where the routes are now (each category is in order of total cost per passenger from 2011 Long Island Bus stats):

Discontinued:

N14
N73/N74
N81
N62
N51
N50
N08
N45
N36
N46/N47

Reduced Service:

N80 - Reduced to Weekday, No Midday Service
N26 - 2 additional trips added during morning/afternoon - still Weekday, Rush hour only
N19 - Reduced to Weekday, No Midday Service
N27 - Reduced to Weekday, hourly service (from half-hourly)
N78/N79 - Only between Plainview/Huntington and Hicksville. Sunday service removed. No midday weekday service.
N20/N21 - N20 split in 2 sub-routes (with timing changeS). N21 reduced to weekday rush-hour only.
N02 - Reduced to Weekday Elmont Flexi (Minibus) service
N01 - Jamaica served weekday rush hours only, westbound in the morning and eastbound in the evening.
N23 - Weekday midday service is now hourly (from half-hourly).
N70/N71/N72 - No longer serves Babylon or Newsday in Melville, N70/72 shortened to Farmingdale State College
N54/N55 - No longer serves Amityville. Weekend service reduced to between 45 min and 1 hour.
N33 - No Sunday service anymore. Saturday service reduced from 22 trips each way to 15 trips.
N16 - Reduced to Weekday, some trips operate as express between NCC and Hempstead

Major Service Changes:

N24 - Now serves Old Country Rd between Roosevelt Field/Hicksville. No longer serves East Meadow. Service level about the same as previously.
N22/N22A - N22A discontinued. N22 Limited created in 2012 but replaced with N22 Express. 10 additional trips added on weekdays each way.
N04 - Shortened runs to Rockville Centre have been converted into full runs. Some rush-hour runs converted into new N4 Express.
N06 - N6 Limited replaced with N6 Express service (some with articulated buses). Stop reduction is planned for Hempstead Tpke.
N40/N41 - Now operates on a schedule-less model with frequency of service varying between 10-15 min on weekdays.

Small adjustments if any (includes timing changes without major reduction/addition of runs/stops):

N88 - Similar service levels as LIB during the Summer
N57 - Similar service levels as LIB
N25 - Similar service levels as LIB
N58 - Similar service levels as LIB
N15 - Some weekday trips added. Mineola Intermodal Center only served during rush hours.
N35 - Similar service levels as LIB
N43 - Similar service levels as LIB
N48/N49 - Similar service levels as LIB (a few trips have been added on weekdays/weekends)
N31 - Similar service levels as LIB
N32 - Similar service levels as LIB

NOTES:

- In 2011, the N40/41 was listed as the only profitable route for the 2.25 fare at the time.

- The total ridership in 2011 under Long Island Bus was 101,981 weekday riders. In 2018, the total ridership for Nassau Inter-County Express was 77,333 weekday riders.

- Between 2012 and 2019, all Orion V CNG buses were sold for scrap and replaced with Orion VII 3Gs as well as New Flyer XN40s and XN60s.

- An N17 route was initially created between Rockville Centre and Hempstead. That has since been replaced with a rush-hour only Minibus shuttle.

- The N87 was brought back for Summer 2013 and Summer 2014 between Hicksville and Jones Beach but has since been discontinued again.

Some Data References:

Latest ridership data from NICE: https://www.nicebus.com/NICE/media/assets/2016-TITLE-6-SURVEY-final-Copy.pdf
NICE's Vision: https://www.nicebus.com/NICE/media/nicebus-pdfs/Let-s-Go-V2-Final-May-2018.pdf
NICE 2018 Ridership: https://www.transit.dot.gov/sites/fta.dot.gov/files/transit_agency_profile_doc/2018/20206.pdf

Topics for discussion:

1) Looking back, do you agree with the routes that have been discontinued?
1a) Do you think the money spent for any of the routes could/should have been spent elsewhere by LIB/NICE?

2) Do you think the removal of the lower-performing routes has resulted in improvements within other parts of the system?
2a) Have you seen any improvement in reliability of service (on-time performance, buses running smoothly without breakdowns, etc) with the reductions that have been made? ie. Do the reductions make up for anything?

3) If NICE had to make more service reductions, where would you expect them to make that?
3a) Separately, if reductions had to be made, where would you choose to reduce service costs?

4) Overall, taking into account the reductions versus provided service levels, do you think NICE has proven that they can stretch a dollar more than MTA Long Island Bus could?

 

There was a multiple vehicle accident involving an N22 bus today at Hillside Avenue and Lakeville Road in New Hyde Park. This caused the right lane of Hillside Avenue westbound to be closed. An old man was supposedly driving the car that caused the accident and the bus took minor damage (if any).

 

It looks like NICE posted today's Memorial Day parade in Queens on their Service Alerts page:

It's great to see that it's not being ignored anymore.

Saw 1767 as well as one of the old LI Bus Fishbowls at AKA Auto/Bus & Truck in Deer Park today.

Does anyone have any opinions on how Jack Khzouz is running operations versus how things were done under Michael Setzer?

Can you describe her clearly because I not very good at describiting people.

Maybe Pinepower could tell.

Young black female driver who we help on n20 Flushing on Memoridal Day 2013 from Hicksville, she was cute.

She was younger and shorter than than the one you had on Memorial Day. And before you ask me, know I had that same driver you had on Memorial Day, that same day, on an earlier run, coming home from Hicksville, and she also asked for directions and matched the description given and the bus PinePower mentioned. That driver was not the driver I saw today. Take my word for it (no response to that needed).

I've seen 1833 everyday this week on my drive home. And same female driver as well. She does the n20 LIMITED to Hicksville and then does the local trip back to Flushing (as I was in Bayside this evening, and saw her on the way back). My guess is, with the times I've seen her, is that she does the 4:45pm LIMITED trip to Hicksville and then does the 6:10pm local trip back to Flushing. Here's when I saw 1833 today in Great Neck:

 

I've seen that around. Last I heard (which was months ago), there was only one vehicle in that livery. That has probably changed now, right? I don't know, I don't follow the Able-ride wrappings.

Daimler likely had those stickers lying around considering how big a customer fhe MTA was. Obviously they were building a 100% MTA spec'd bus so they probably threw them on because of that, who knows fhe county might've requested those stickers because they're on the other buses. I wouldn't be surprised if they end up on the next order of buses (which will likely be MTA spec'd anyway), especially if they go with New Flyer or Nova where they already have those stickers/images of them.

Not necessarily. Do not expect NICE to spec the buses to the anymore because they're expecting to be here for years, so they're gonna do what they see best. Hopefully, that means not getting the same seating the back which doesn't allow for a lot of room and getting seats that face the aisle like on the NG HEVs. Even if the bus isn't spec'd, they can still have a comparitive fleet that is good to maintain!

On the bustalk galleries, I found an old picture from 1975 of some New Looks laying over at Jones Beach.

 

Were the route numbers different back in the day?  When did the N40 go to Hicksville?

Yea, the bus route numbers/routes were almost all different. The N22A went to Jones Beach too (and look behind it is the N40):

 

Didn't the 3G's enter service under NICE? Then why do they have MTA decals above the driver? ("Your vehicle your responsibility", senior half fare except for express buses, etc)

 

Yeah, I've heard the voice in some of your on-board videos on the 3Gs. Not the worst voice I heard but it could be a little less robotic. And while they're at it, they should tweak the interval because most of the time it seemed like a stop was announced when the bus was almost in front of the bus stop. That's a little late.

My guess is, since the order was placed under the to deliver to Nassau County, the was in charge of the order, put it to their specs, gave Orion (or the county) the decals/stickers/accessories to install to the 3Gs. I'm surprised NICE kept some of those stickers on (especially when there really are no NICE "express" buses, the n6 and n22 don't count).